Presidential ambitions

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

4/6/11, 9:07 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 9:09 PM CET

Pat Cox wants to be a president again.

Once a president, always a president. While that might be the case in the US, where former presidents are always addressed as ‘Mr President’, it is not yet the practice in the European Union, where presidents of the European Parliament (and other institutions) are, in most cases, swiftly forgotten – along with their ‘achievements’.

But Pat Cox, who was president of the European Parliament in 2002-04, wants to be a president again.

On Saturday (2 April) he told Irish national broadcaster RTÉ that he had been prompted by the consequences of the financial bail-out and by phone calls and emails from Irish citizens to consider standing in the country’s presidential election in October.

Becoming president of the Parliament required only some manoeuvring by the Liberal group leader to secure the support of the centre-right EPP group. But becoming president of a country requires winning a popular vote, so Cox will have his work cut out. It’s worth a go though, since he would be addressed as Mr President at least for another seven years.